<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Firebrand by Elohim (Genna_Bella)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25048369">Firebrand</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genna_Bella/pseuds/Elohim'>Elohim (Genna_Bella)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Elohim [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aboriginal Character, Churches &amp; Cathedrals, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Gothic, I mean I think it's Non-Graphic, Korean Character, Non-Graphic Violence, Religion, Religious Content, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, heavy religious themes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:33:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25048369</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genna_Bella/pseuds/Elohim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Thirty minutes? If these guys are all in torpor like the assignment said we’ll only need ten at the most.” Ariabelle huffs, drawing the heavy shield from where it was situated on her back, the winged mace on her hip making a soft clinking sound against the plate armour as she moved closer to the heavy door.</p><p>“C’mon Ari, we all know it’ll take you five of those ten to open the door.” He quipped with a grin, earning a glare from the knight.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>David Abate | Lachlan McGregor - OC/Ariabelle | Tiddalik Molok - OC (mentioned), Hong Gil-Dong | Jake Park &amp; Ariabelle | Tiddalik Molok</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Elohim [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Firebrand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They knew when they got the assignment that an abandoned cathedral housing a full clan of Lasombra vampires in its depths was going to be daunting, even for a crew as experienced and battle-hardened as the one that entered the church.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The nun was the first to look up, Dina was her name if he recalled correctly. Even with the silent and guarded atmosphere present she seemed awed by the architecture, gothic to the letter that seemed to have stood the test of time and prevailed by the skin of its teeth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In truth, he was almost certain the roof could come down on them if they fought too hard in the catacombs beneath. He might have voiced as much if their rogue, Riki hadn’t done it for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This place looks like we have about thirty minutes before gravity decides we’ve stayed our term.” He muttered, wary of the places he stepped and the piles of books thrown around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sorcerer held the hems of his white and gold cloak as he stepped over the discarded knowledge. To him it was a shame the secrets in those books were likely long forgotten and would stay that way for the rest of time. However admittedly, he didn’t care all too much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was more interested in the pews. Rows upon rows of the communal chairs had been overturned or broken in half. He wondered what events led up to something that dramatic, but didn’t dwell on it too long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thirty minutes? If these guys are all in torpor like the assignment said we’ll only need ten at the most.” Ariabelle huffs, drawing the heavy shield from where it was situated on her back, the winged mace on her hip making a soft clinking sound against the plate armour as she moved closer to the heavy door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mon Ari, we all know it’ll take you five of those ten to open the door.” He quipped with a grin, earning a glare from the knight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d like to see you try, Gil.” She huffed, bracing herself as she ran against the large door, the wood giving way on her first push.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit!” Riki exclaims, bracing himself as splinters fly. “Dammit woman! If this place wasn’t unstable enough already.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dina calmly clears her throat, “Actually, Riki. This building appears quite sound, knocking down the door probably, at worst, alerted our enemies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’re in torpor? Really?” Gil-Dong laughs, “let’s just get this over with and get out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ariabelle nods, her deep brown eyes only just visible through the full plate helmet as she turned to walk down first. Gil-Dong followed after, a snap of his wrist and pinch of his fingers procuring a small flame that lit the way down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bones lined the wall of the catacombs, whether it was for grim decoration or an ineffective warning Gil-Dong wasn’t sure. Ariabelle in front of him seemed unphased however as she walked further down the steps never once trembling or missing a beat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why d’you lot think thems higher-ups got us four doing this thing?” She breaks the silence, her Australian drawl biting through the dead air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’d’you mean?” Riki asked back from behind Gil-Dong, something the latter man was never happy about lest he got a knife in his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She means that we’re the best Hummingbirds in our fields. Ariabelle and Gil-Dong both have at least a 90% mission success rate on all contract types.” Dina answered for her. “It makes no sense why the Aviary would assign such high-ranking Hummingbirds to a trivial mission such as this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah Dina, it doesn’t make sense why </span>
  <em>
    <span>you’re</span>
  </em>
  <span> here.” Riki replied, “To my knowledge the only two ordained people free for this assignment were yourself and Abate. And no offence but I’d take Abate over </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> any day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You’d take Abate. Gil-Dong thought to himself. The guy with a constant demonic aura that no one else was willing to admit wasn’t just because of the way he approached field work. Sometimes he wondered if he worked with idiots, but at the same time he didn’t really want that question answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t help that Ariabelle went silent whenever the guy’s name was mentioned. He supposed it made sense seeing as the two were romantically involved. He condemned her for having a romance with a fellow Hummingbird, but the two had been together from before they joined the order so he couldn’t complain all that much without sounding like for of a douche than he already was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pfft, I wouldn’t” Gil-Dong chimed in in reference to Riki’s remark. “The guy has no awareness, like </span>
  <em>
    <span>at all</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Last assignment I had with him we were clearing out a skeleton crypt right? He was taking on like </span>
  <em>
    <span>two</span>
  </em>
  <span> if memory serves and another one was tryna get the drop on him. You guys know that Abate has like this immunity to magic, right? Yeah so I shot fire at the one sneaking up on him but he like, I dunno, forgot? Dude staggered and missed a parry. Still has the scar on his shoulder I swear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah and you’d know he still has a scar, right.” Riki teased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh har har, another joke about me sleeping with Abate when I haven’t spoken to the guy once of my own accord.” Gil-Dong sneered. “It’s getting old, man, give it up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ariabelle missed a step at that but quickly fixed her walking pattern again, still silent because of the topic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure when the joke of him sleeping with the hostile blacksmith started, mainly because he’d never conversed with the guy willingly. The only reason they spent </span>
  <em>
    <span>any</span>
  </em>
  <span> time together at all was to do business, and even then they didn’t care for one another’s company.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did actually talk to him about this assignment.” Dina admitted, “He declined on the basis you were also attending, Gil-Dong.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong’s neutral, slightly annoyed expression turned quickly into anger as Riki and Ariabelle laughed at his expense. “Yeah yeah, fucking laugh it up, assholes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay, okay.” Riki said through the laughter. “You shot fire at the guy’s back, he stumbles and </span>
  <em>
    <span>still has the scar</span>
  </em>
  <span> and you don’t think he has every right to be pissed at you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never said </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I just said he has no awareness. Plus you guys are forgetting he’s immune.” Gil-Dong defended himself from Ariabelle and Riki who were still laughing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You still shot </span>
  <em>
    <span>fire</span>
  </em>
  <span> at him, Gil.” Ariabelle shook her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I like to think of my methods as </span>
  <em>
    <span>unorthodox</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And he is very much </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> that.” Gil-Dong rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The humourous vibe of the group’s conversations falls away to a more professional and determined focus. Ariabelle broke off left as they reached the end of the staircase, Gil-Dong walking to the right as Dina and Riki filled the middle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The catacombs seethed of a familiar life, a hatred came from the walls and all four of them could feel it. The assignment was truthful in its contents for once it seemed. Normally Gil-Dong would just bring up a wall of flame and burn the coffins’ contents to a crisp and go home, unfortunately it seemed there was a solid six inches of stone between whatever fun was asleep inside and where he could realistically send his fire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’re we gonna approach this?” He asked his companions who were all mulling over the situation themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Carefully?” Riki offered unhelpfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Worry not, friends.” Dina smiled, walking towards the wall of coffins, extra cloth at the base of her black robes with white trim dragged on the ground. Normally walking into something like that was suicidal, but by now Gil-Dong had learnt most of the Aviary’s ordained were nearly invisible to the undead unless they wanted otherwise. He assumed Dina was no different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dina began her prayer as she stopped in front of the largest coffin, muttering with arms outstretched to put to sleep whatever monster was kept inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By now the other three were preparing for a fight. Riki had both daggers drawn and was one moment away from blending into the shadows. Ariabelle was already in a defensive stance, but it was impossible to push over the stout woman any way (Gil-Dong had tried). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong simply stood tall, or as tall as he could anyway, the fireproof cloak he wore hiding his hands and their current gesture as a way for him to keep secret the brand of spell he was preparing to cast. At that moment however his hands were firmly locked in a crossing of fingers, praying silently for Dina.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The air however was off. Off in a way Gil-Dong couldn’t place. Something in his body was screaming at him to do something, a desire to call Dina back or to go and help her. None of which he acted on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did notice a small crack in the coffin, a hole just large enough for mysterious black sand to trickle out of it. Gil-Dong would have acted on it and called it out to Dina who was quite oblivious to the fact, but there was something so mesmerizing about the black grains and how they flowed onto the floor. Trickle by trickle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And more of them and more of them, pooling around Dina’s feet and the hem of her robes. Her robes, robes that were being tugged on by small hands, grains of sand taking the form of tethers, pulling Dina onto her knees as she prayed still, unmoving, transfixed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dina!” Ariabelle’s shout pulled Gil-Dong out of his trance, waking him up to what was really going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dina was being almost swallowed by the black sand, sand that was slowly but surely taking a woman’s form. Ariabelle rushed forward shield first just as Gil-Dong was beginning the first stages of a spell. He quickly dismissed it once he realised shooting off a fireball would hit both women as well as the sand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned to his left, expecting to see Riki but was instead greeted by darkness. As was to be expected from a rogue he supposed, it didn’t exactly instill him with confidence however. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ariabelle grabbed Dina with the hand that held her mace, dropping it accidentally as she pulled her away from the sand, now starting to take the texture of pale, near white, skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong refrained from interfering with the two, not wanting to make the situation worse. Instead he looked upwards to the unlit and unused lanterns. He prayed the wick would still work and that Riki wouldn’t be too annoyed at him for taking his cover.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong quickly focused, snapping his fingers and lighting the surrounding lanterns. He looked back to Ariabelle and Dina, instantly wishing he hadn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ariabelle lay on the floor, blood coming through the seams in her helmet and Dina. Dina’s limp body was being coddled by another woman Gil-Dong didn’t recognise. What he did recognise however was the motion of Dina’s neck being bitten into by the woman who it dawned on Gil-Dong was not in fact wearing clothing of any kind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong rushed over to Dina and the woman with the intent of releasing Dina from her hold. Instead he was stopped halfway by a knife to his throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A mess of brown hair collided with Gil-Dong’s head, the familiar deep Russian accent of Riki hissed into his ear. “Not so fucking fast, Gil.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong struggled against his grip trying to wriggle out any way he could but the knife pressing against his neck and arm wrapped around his torso made it difficult to move with any certainty. “Are you fucking with me?” He grunted with frustration, unable to speak too loud as he got crushed by Riki’s grip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The naked woman let go of Dina, letting her body fall. She stood up with grace, her frame long and slender with long, near black hair tipped in blood. She runs her hands through it, tucking the loose strands behind her ears. She looks over to Riki and Gil-Dong, red eyes now with a twinkle in them as she smiles kindly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, cher.” She greeted him with a smile and accented English, walking over Dina and Ariabelle’s lifeless bodies to cup Gil-Dong’s face with the dainty, clawed fingers of her left hand. “What’s your name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong debated not replying at all, however his lust for pissing off someone more powerful than him took over. “Jesus of Nazareth.” He sassed, still speaking through gritted teeth as Riki kept him in place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hand cupping Gil-Dong’s face clawed, the woman dragging it across his cheek with a fell scrape. The stinging sensation hurt Gil-Dong enough he felt tears well in his eyes however he refused to scream for her. “Such insolence.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s Hong Gil-Dong. The flame sorcerer that’s single handedly taken out half of your clan.” Riki answered the woman himself, “Ariabelle took out the other half and poor Dina was just collateral damage.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did I permit you to speak?” The woman hissed at Riki, lips parting to reveal the sharp fangs expected of a vampire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Riki stiffened, keeping his blade firmly against Gil-Dong’s neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Regardless, Riki. I think you’ve done a fine job of bringing me these two powerful, young Hummingbirds. They will do nicely as my new left and right hands.” The woman tucked a loose strand of Gil-Dong’s hair behind his ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought I was gonna be your right hand, and you were gonna kill Ariabelle.” Riki mentioned, his blade digging into Gil-Dong’s neck and drawing blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong took another look at Ariabelle. He wasn’t even sure she was still alive much less strong enough to survive being turned. But he supposed death was much better than unlife in any fashion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Non. No, I think I like her more.” The woman sighed wistfully, pulling the dagger away from Gil-Dong’s throat, gently taking it off Riki. “She’s quieter. And much less pushy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong stayed silent, even when Riki let go of him, only standing more upright now Riki’s hold on him was gone. He wanted to move, to </span>
  <em>
    <span>run</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Not even anywhere in particular, just run to somewhere, away from Riki and Dina and Ariabelle and </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> away from the woman in front of him. But try as he may, his feet wouldn’t move for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman touched the tip of her finger on the blade, drawing her own blood which ran down the blade’s curve, pooling at the hilt. “I know you want to run. They all do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong’s thoughts were in many places at the one time. Why wasn’t Riki fighting back? Why couldn’t he run? Did he</span>
  <em>
    <span> want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to run?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m so happy you’ve decided you’re staying with me, Gil-Dong.” She cooed, running the flat of Riki’s now bloodied blade on the other side of Gil-Dong’s face, smearing it in her blood. “But how poor of me to not introduce myself. You’ll know me as Amelie, mistress of a Lasombra clan of vampires. A clan that you and… little Ariabelle over there massacred. Massacred in cold </span>
  <em>
    <span>cold</span>
  </em>
  <span> blood. And what’s a mistress without her clan?” She looked slightly down to meet Gil-Dong’s height, holding his chin up with her bloodied finger, the other hand running through his hair. Her lips met his for a moment, featherlight but still enough it was classed as a kiss. “I like you, little firebrand. I’m going to show you what it means to be a lion among sheep. Among… Hummingbirds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gil-Dong didn’t respond, how could he? His body was frozen and it felt like the woman in front of him, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Amelie</span>
  </em>
  <span>, was draining him. He didn’t want to move, or fight back. He didn’t care about Ariabelle any more or Riki, and Dina was dead anyway so what was the point? What </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> the point?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amelie moves down to Gil-Dong’s neck, and as sharp fangs penetrate his skin, he quickly forgets all about the throbbing pain in his cheek.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Comment with any questions you may have. Thank you.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>